


The Price of Seeking Freedom

by TheObsoleteOne



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Protectiveness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-02-17
Packaged: 2018-05-20 03:04:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5989801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheObsoleteOne/pseuds/TheObsoleteOne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luhan is an escaped Circle mage, as well as an elf. Hiding in the imposing city of Kirkwall, he finds an unlikely ally in Sehun. And maybe more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Luhan kept his head down, allowing the hood he wore to obscure much of his face as he walked quickly along the rough path in front of him. Ever few steps he would stumble, causing a jolt of pain from his multiple injuries. In spite of the pain, Luhan kept himself moving. Fear is a good motivator he thought to himself grimly, resisting the urge to look over his shoulder for the tenth time in as many minutes.

It had been a few days since his lucky escape from the Circle of Magi and he was still no more settled than when he had left, and Luhan thought that perhaps the feeling of being chased would never leave him. He was still feeling optimistic though, the idea of beginning a new life as a free man was exhilarating.

Looking ahead, Luhan allowed himself to smile a little as the city of Kirkwall looms ahead. To others, the large city would be imposing, however it suited Luhan perfectly. The thought of a city with so many people to blend in with and get lost amongst filled him with a sense of comfort, no matter how odd that could seem.

Luhan did not know much about the city itself, apart from its use as a valuable trade port. Living in a city appealed to him more than living in the country, and Kirkwall’s close location to his own Circle made it his first choice to travel to after his escape. 

He could feel his steps quicken once the city was in sight, the thought of any sort of protection from the elements spurring him on. Luhan had no coin on him, so he was prepared to be homeless and struggle until he could find paying work. Freedom is worth any hardship he reminded himself.

The trek to the gates of the city seemed to take a long time, but Luhan felt as if he had newfound energy. The seed of hope had swiftly grown in his mind, and the joy of being free from the Circle was catching up with him finally.

It was nearing sun down when he finally arrived at the gates, finding them shut tight.  
“Halt! State your purpose here!” A gruff voice demanded from his right, and Luhan looked to see a guard walking towards him with a frown on his face.  
“Greetings Ser, I-I hope to find some shelter here.” Luhan cringed at how shaky his voice was. He kept as still an unassuming as possible as the man walked closer to him, but could not hold back his flinch when a hand reached out and tipped the hood he wore back off his head.

Luhan closed his eyes, his face was a mess and he knew it. Bruising covered the left side of his face, and there was still dried blood on his lips that he had not had time to wash off. His stomach dropped however, at the next words out of the guard’s mouth.  
“Hmm. Still pretty, despite the marks.” Luhan flinched once again as he felt calloused hands trace his lips. “What are you willing to do in order to get entrance into the city? I have a few ideas in mind, I am sure you do not have the coin to pay the fee.”

Luhan did not need to open his eyes to see the sneer that was on the guard’s face, but he did so anyway, trying his best to muster up a glare. Sadly, his expression was probably as intimidating as a grumpy kitten, and as such the guard simply chuckled at him and allowed his hands to travel towards Luhan’s pointed ears.

“Ahh, a knife-ear are you? Well, that would explain how small you are. Don’t get to see many elves outside of the alienage. Have not had a chance to really try one out if you know what I mean.” With that, the guard brought his hand down towards Luhan’s neck, squeezing it warningly.

At that, Luhan squeezed his eyes shut once more, the touch bringing back horrible memories. He knew where this was going, and also that he was no match for the guard should he choose to become more forceful with his attentions.  
“P-please. Don’t.” He all but begged, his mind replaying horrific memories over and over as the guard’s touch started to get more insistent. This helpless feeling was nothing new to him, it was how he had felt his entire existence in the Circle. Perhaps I can use my magic he suddenly thought. The guards here would surely not be trained to suppress magic like the Templars were, so maybe even his weak offensive spells could work.

Just as he was mustering the courage to do so, the gates were pushed open slowly and a voice called out from behind the guard.  
“What is going on here?”  
At the voice, the guard whipped around in fear and stepped away from Luhan as fast as he could. “Nothing, Ser Kai. This knife ear was just causing a racket, I wanted to turn him away before he could cause trouble in the city. You know how they can be.” The guard grinned nervously, trying to appear as innocent as possible.

Luhan could see that the newcomer- Kai- was not so easily fooled. “No Alric, I do not know how they can be. Care to enlighten me?” Alric simply sputtered, unable to come up with a response. “In that case, can you explain why on earth you are harassing this man? I have received complaints about your conduct before, but was willing to give you an opportunity to prove yourself. Obviously, I was wrong to ever give you that chance. You are hereby relieved of your duty.”

When Alric started to protest, Kai simply held up his hand and the guard fell silent. It was clear to Luhan that this man commanded a fair amount of respect and fear, and he could feel trepidation at the thought of being alone with him. Once Alric started to walk away, Kai called out after his retreating back “And my men will be keeping an eye on you, so don’t try anything.”

Once Alric was well and truly gone, Kai turned with a smile to Luhan, only for it to drop once he took in all of the injuries to his face. “I am so sorry for the poor welcome, please, let me take you to someone who can take care of your wounds.” When he reached out to Luhan, his face fell even more when the latter flinched away instinctively. 

“Sorry.” Luhan shook his head “Instinct.” Kai nodded, and thankfully did not question any further.   
“With your permission, I would still like to assist you as we go through the city. I can tell you are favouring your left leg and you seem to be in pain.” He smiled once more as Luhan allowed him to support him as they walked into the city.

It was a little into their walk when Luhan spoke. “Thank you.” His voice was soft, and almost hesitant. “No problem.” Kai grinned “I would be a useless captain of the guard if I could not control my men. I’m just sorry this ever happened in the first place.”

“I’m sorry, but I have no coin to pay you back for your generosity.” Luhan only got a light chuckle in reply.   
“That does not matter to me at all, you need help and I will make sure you get it. Some people in this city are suspicious of strangers, especially if they are elves, but I am not one of them. Anyway, my partner would likely murder me if I left you to fend for yourself. He can be worse than a mother hen.”

Eventually they came upon a large estate that was emitting warm yellow light from its windows. Kai pushed open the doors with one arm, still supporting Luhan with the other. They had only taken a few steps inside when someone rushed out to meet them.

“Kai! Are you okay? Was Alric up to anything?” The man who ran up to them was small, but not as petite as Luhan. His large eyes widened even further (Luhan thought that the effect was somewhat like a startled owl) when he caught sight of Luhan. “Oh lord, did Alric do this?” He took hold of Luhan and started bodily dragging him towards a seat near the fire that was burning.

“He didn’t, this happened before I arrived here.” Luhan managed to get out.  
“Alric tried to take… advantage of the situation when our friend here arrived, Kyungsoo.” Kyungsoo’s eyes hardened and he looked at Kai, who nodded, communicating wordlessly that Alric would be dealt with. 

“What is your name?” Kyungsoo questioned gently, as he surveyed the injuries on the man in front of him. Luhan told him his name, oddly soothed by the other’s presence.  
“Okay Luhan, can you tell me how you got these injuries?”   
“I got attacked. I’d prefer to not go into details right now.” Kyungsoo nodded in understanding.   
“Where else do you have injuries other than your face?” Luhan informed him about the cuts and bruised on his torso and his left ankle. At Kyungsoo’s request, he removed his shirt and foot wraps as Kai came back into the room carrying a bowel of scented water. Luhan reasoned that it probably contained herbs of some sort. 

For the next hour, Kyungsoo bathed and wrapped Luhan’s wounds as necessary, being as gentle as possible and apologising anytime Luhan winced in pain. It ended with Luhan feeling better and more cared for than he ever had in his life, despite the pain that his wounds still caused him. Unfortunately his tiredness hit him at the same time, and he could feel his eyes drooping as Kyungsoo finished off the last bandage, missing the softly spoken conversation between Kai and him. 

When Kyungsoo guided him up and into a spare bedroom, Luhan could not even bring himself to argue. When his head hit the soft pillow, he succumbed to sleep almost immediately. His last thought before drifting off was maybe there is hope for me finding a better life here. He slept with a soft smile on his face that night.


	2. Chapter 2

Luhan woke feeling better rested than he had in years, but at the same time he felt incredibly guilty. He had fallen asleep on Kyungsoo and Kai with barely a word of thanks after all they had done to help him last night. If only I had something to pay them back with. I will just have to make it up to them later he decided.

Lifting his aching body out of the bed, he stopped as he realised that he had no clothes to change into, and his dirty and bloody clothes from last night were nowhere to be seen. It was not long before he noticed a piled of folded clothes on the far side of the room and when he made his way over to them, Luhan could see that they were not his own clothes. They were simple, but still finer than any clothes he had ever owned.

As he slipped into the slightly loose fitting garments, he could not help but feel even guiltier. Luhan was not used to such kindness, especially not from people who seemed to have nothing to gain from helping him. Pushing away such thoughts, he made his way out of the room and managed to navigate through the large hallway, finding the main area from last night before long.

Luhan stood in the large room for a few long moments, taking in the art on the walls. One large painting in particular caught his eye, it appeared to depict Kyungsoo and Kai together, looking at each other. Whoever the artist is deserves a million gold Luhan mused. He could almost see the love radiating out from the painting, and the passion between the couple depicted was clear.

“Like the painting? A man named Lay created it, he is a friend of the family.” Luhan was startled by the unknown voice and he whipped around, almost losing his balance in the process. What he saw made him shrink away instinctively out of fear. A heavily armoured man stood in the entrance to the room, having clearly just came through the door.

“Sorry, did I startle you? My name is Sehun, I work for Kai.” Sehun’s face remained expressionless as he spoke, and Luhan was so unsettled that it took him awhile to notice that Sehun was holding out his hand. Quickly, and making sure to keep his eyes away from the sword attached to Sehun’s hip, Luhan darted forward and shook the man’s hand. He had a brief moment of disappointment that Sehun was wearing gauntlets, before he pulled his hand away as politely as possible.

Unsure of what to say next, Luhan studied the face of the man in front of him. There was no denying it, Sehun was handsome, but at the same time intimidating. Luhan felt his eyes get drawn towards Sehun’s sword once again and soon found himself being drawn back into his memories. He shut his eyes tightly and tried to take deep steady breaths to calm himself down. It was ok, he was free, and he was not there anymore. They could not hurt him. They could not hurt him. They could not hurt hi-

“Hello?” Sehun’s confused voice brought Luhan back, and his eyes snapped back to the man’s face, seeing a look of concern on the handsome face.  
“I’m sorry, I don’t do well around heavily armed people.” Luhan mumbled, looking down at the floor. He was spared from Sehun’s response when another door opened and Kyungsoo walked in.

“Sehun! You aren’t scaring poor Luhan here are you? Kai will be out in a moment.” Luhan saw Sehun’s eyes widen a little, in fear? Kyungsoo is not that intimidating is he? Luhan questioned himself, looking between the two. There were several beats of uncomfortable silence before Kai came into the room, strapping himself into his armour as he moved.

Sehun sank into a deep bow, only rising when Kai spoke. “Come on Sehun, you know I don’t believe in that formality. Your old training is showing.” Sehun returned Kai’s grin as he stood up straight. “Luhan, I see you have met Sehun. He is my second-in-command, I would be lost without him. Now, breakfast is ready and I think there is much to discuss before we can start our days.” Kai continued, gesturing to the room he had just come from.

Dutifully, everyone walked into the dining area and sat down around the large table. Luhan was glad when Kyungsoo sat down next to him, the other two men on the other side of the table. He knew that he had no true reason to fear him, but Sehun simply exuded strength and power. Its ok, you are not there anymore. None of these people want to hurt you. Luhan reminded himself.

At Kyungsoo’s encouragement, Luhan began to eat. It was delicious! He could not remember the last time there had been so much food of such good quality available for him, and before he knew it he was shoving it all in his mouth as fast as possible. When his plate was cleared he looked up to see everyone staring at him.

“Hey, I like Kyungsoo’s food as well, but even I don’t eat it that fast.” Kai laughed. Luhan ducked his head down, embarrassed.  
“I’m sorry, I just have not been able to eat for a while. I am sorry for showing poor manners.” His cheeks were burning, and Luhan felt so small. He could feel everyone’s eyes on him. Eventually, Kyungsoo spoke up.

“It’s okay Luhan, I’m glad you are enjoying the food.” Luhan looked and saw a soft smile on both Kyungsoo and Kai’s faces, whilst Sehun still remained stoic. Everyone kept eating in silence, until Kai spoke up.  
“Okay, now Luhan. I understand you came to the city, clearly under… Unhappy circumstances. I can help you with finding employment if you want, or help you move on if you wish to travel somewhere else.”

Luhan thought for a moment, he had an idea of what he wanted to do, and how he could use his magic for good. Mind made up, he spoke. “I wish to stay here, in Kirkwall. And I want to be a healer, I want to help people.”


End file.
